A new poem sequence by Wellington poet Jackson Nieuwland. They told me to be myself, so I entered the hive. Bees the size of my head descended upon me. They covered every inch of my body like a chrysalis. I continued walking forward, through a blur of buzz and fuzz. At the center of … Read more
New poetry by Thames writer Bob Orr. Hawaiki My first university the freezing works at Horotiu – my first professor a tohunga in white overalls and gumboots who worked on the boning floor. One evening drinking beer as the setting sun was turning the Waikato River red … Read more
New poetry by Auckland writer Steven Toussaint. Yes or No Are you happy with your service provider? Have you contemplated private piety’s competitive prices? Are you in the market for something like but not precisely eternal return? Have you been waiting long in our baffled room? … Read more
New verse by Featherston writer Sam Duckor-Jones. People from the Pit Stand Up by Sam Duckor-Jones (Victoria University Press, $30) is available at Unity Books.
New verse by Christchurch writer Jeffrey Paparoa Holman. Kei te whakaako au i taku kurī/I am teaching my dog Māori I am teaching my dog Māori. Nobody will object outside the supermarket when I tie Tiaki to the bike stand and bark, “E noho!” tenderly. “Enoho, what a lovely name!” … Read more
New verse by Auckland writer Carin Smeaton. Our Lady every noon moses calls to our lady of the rosary she jus ‘round the corner eyes always 2 her heart that gurl ‘cept for the time she set the methodist church on fire feeding it all the dreams she ever held bright & o … Read more
New verse by Kaipara poet Sam Hunt. Mum and Mary In the dream my mother is chatting with her friend, Mary, mother of Jesus – Mum and Mary sharing a joint. Mary tends to rabbit on about the cost of living, of everything ‘going up’; husband, Joseph, coming in lately … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer Harry Ricketts. Grief Limericks i I once had a stepson called Max. As a child, he could rarely relax. The other kids kicked him; he was a natural victim. I once had a stepson called Max. ii I once had a stepson called Max, liked Gunn and … Read more
New verse by West Auckland writer Michael Steven. Neilson Street Nearly always it is still dark when he threads the chain of the roller door through his hands, and as that steel door shudders and shrieks as it rolls up, he will most certainly be wearing his red waist-cut woollen Swanndri, the … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer Rachel McAlpine. But when? Most of us are afraid of a slow fade, a late grave. Most of us equate old age with panic and despair and things we could not bear. We say, Not us! No way! We want to be hit by a bus. … Read more
New verse by Hamilton writer Therese Lloyd. Roast Lamb for Christmas Dinner, For Example when I think of temporary things like this broken pencil that breaks more with each word or the marriage that I had once and then didn’t, or the way my father drank gin and tonic for breakfast on the last … Read more
New verse by Maraea Rakuraku, taken from a new anthology in English and te reo (translated by Jamie Cowell). when does it start? It’s not waving a flag, holding a banner, knowing what postcolonial theory means and when to use it, memorising quotes and lining them up like soldiers that are sent out in waves … Read more
New verse from Wellington writer Geoff Cochrane. Overheard Scots College blazer, prefect’s badge. A slenderly sturdy six-footer, dark. He’s walking briskly with his head held high, his cellphone pressed to his ear, and this what I can’t but hear him saying: ‘Don’t do it. Please don’t do it. Please don’t do it, please.’ … Read more
New verse by Dunedin writer Emer Lyons. Winter wood. Someone is chopping wood outside my window, or is it loudly inside my head? The slow swish of the axe the sharp splinter scattering little shards – impossible to clean up. I want to burrow beneath the soil, lie under the heavy comfort … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer Freya Sadgrove. Georgie Porgie I wanna kiss you and make you cry obviously I find you dangerously unsentimental in fact I worry that you might be harbouring a small violence in your daily life such as such as muttering insults at the elderly or writing scathing reviews of high … Read more
New verse by Dunedin writer Michael Hall. The Survivor Series Jeff, I used to watch the show Jeff, I liked the first two well enough I suppose Jeff, I came back for a later season Jeff, one day instead of the island it will be the planet you will be voted off The … Read more
New verse by New Zealand-Tongan poet Simone Kaho. Pretty Some people say You’re too pretty to be Tongan which is funny because it’s usually Tongans who say it. It is a short-cut to make a big distance between us and casually call me Pālagi at the same time. I can hardly … Read more
New verse by Kaipara poet Sam Hunt. So I don’t rightly know it’s even you – but being on the edge of what was like a lake I know which could only be seen when there was no sun, no moon, and that water so deep you’d know (if … Read more
New apocalyptic verse by Wellington writer Nick Ascroft. Gone Mad Health and safety gone mad. Disease and hazard gone mad. ‘Health and safety gone mad’ gone mad. Healthy dislike of Baby Boomers gone mad. Housing prices gone mad. Interest rates threatening to spiral out of control but remaining at a plateau gone mad. Estate agents gone mad. I’m … Read more
Dunedin writer Alan Roddick may hold the New Zealand record as the author who has had the longest period between two books. A new collection of verse was published in September; it follows his debut collection, published in 1967…The two Friday poems are taken from his 2016 book, Getting It Right. Lost and Found … Read more
New verse by writer and singer, Dominic Hoey. Toast I’d like to make a toast to the sound man for making me louder than my detractors to the bar tenders, those unsung heroes of hospo, serving up sweet amnesia to the hecklers, the physical manifestation of the voices in my head, shut -the fuck- … Read more
New verse by writer Amanda Kennedy. Write about your father’s father At school, the task today is write about your father’s father. You find it slightly hard to breathe as people at your table tell their stories I mean, if you have ever read School Journals, You will know that grandads aren’t supposed to … Read more
New verse by New Plymouth poet Elizabeth Smither The heart heals itself between beats When the Middlesex Hospital was coming down I walked through empty corridors to the chapel and stood behind a rood screen, admiring self-sacrificing matrons and eminent surgeons. The heart heals itself between beats. The heart heals itself between beats. … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer and college student, Mira Karunanidhi. The Universe we once had a conversation about the universe and i told you i like to think that space is infinite that it has no beginning middle or end but like most things it has to end somewhere in the same … Read more
New verse by Nelson writer Sarah Wilson. Dear Dominique “I was having sex with my girlfriend when she started her period. I dumped that bitch immediately.” – tweet Dear nameless dummy on Twitter: You’re the reason my daughter cried funeral tears when she started her period. The sudden grief all young girls feel after the … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer (and winner of the 2016 Ockham New Zealand national book award for best first book of poetry) Chris Tse. Chris Tse and His Imaginary Band We were brighter when the world didn’t know about us or our rock n’ roll dreams. Now we dress in black, but we’re not … Read more
Voznesensky Voznesensky meeting his girlfriend in the rain is taking place tonight. There’s the same telephone box, late fifties, Voznesensky & girlfriend rooting like rattlesnakes. The whole world is shaking. Voznesensky himself is shaking. It must be love, he thought. Or a bad night. Or good … Read more